The Putney Post
West Homer Elementary--5th Grade
Dates to Remember
March 5th- Instrumental Music Performance (for band students) 5:30pm @ the High School
March 6- Snowshoeing Field Trip
March 11-15- Spring Break
March 18- Science Fair Project due
March 25-29- Scholastic Book Fair in the Library
March 26- Family and Friends Night in the WHE Library 4:30-6:30 (drop in at any time)
March 29- Dress Up as a Character Day
Classroom Happenings
Last week in reading we started a new book: Fever 1793 By: Laurie Halse Anderson. The main character, Mattie, runs a coffeehouse in Philadelphia with her mother and grandfather. Yellow Fever hits their community, and everything changes for Mattie. As a pre-reading assignment, students entered our classroom Monday morning to find a coffee shop atmosphere. Students were served scones, muffins, chocolate covered strawberries, and tea. Then, we watched an introductory video on the Yellow Fever. This experience built background knowledge and introduced the story to students in a hands-on way.
In math, students explored metric and customary units of mass. We reviewed units of capacity and finding volume, and we took the test. After completing the mass, capacity and volume unit, we began our review of long division and double-digit multiplication. For the next several weeks in math students will be exploring multiplication and division with whole numbers and decimals. The whole number portion of the unit will be review and skills reinforcement. However, multiplying and dividing decimals will be a new skill for most students.
Finally, in writing we completed our Wonder essays and started our unit on argumentation. The Wonder essays turned out beautifully! Students selected a theme from the book Wonder and supported it with three big idea paragraphs. After completing their essay students created a Wordle (www.wordle.net) by copying and pasting their essay on the Wordle sight. The Wordle became the cover page for their essay. Our mini-lessons on argumentation this week centered on point of view. In order to persuade another person of your idea, you need to have an understanding of the counterviews. This was a fun exploration for students as they acted out a bus scene and shared the thoughts of students, the bus driver, parents, and a principal. We are in the process of writing letters to our parents, trying to persuade them on an issue, so get ready to share your counterargument!
What's Next?
This week is our last week of school before spring break! Can you believe it is already March? There will be no school this Friday, March 8, due to teacher in-service. And, of course, there will be no school next week because it's SPRING BREAK. We are entering a short week with several out-of-the-routine activities. Tuesday is a big day for our band students. Fifth and sixth grade band students will be bussed to the high school Tuesday afternoon for a rehearsal. That evening (March 5) band students will be performing in the Mariner Theater at 6:00pm (Band students need to arrive at 5:30). It is a free event, and everyone is encouraged to attend! On Wednesday morning we will be taking a field trip to the Wynn Nature Center. We will be enjoying the beauty of Homer while going for a class snowshoeing trip. On Thursday afternoon our class will be participating in Orca Olympics, which is a school-wide event. Each class comes up with a chant and mini-performance. Then, the classes compete while playing various games. Along with these extra activities, we will continue to be working on reading, writing, and math skills! It is going to be a great week.
Instrumental Music in the Schools- TUESDAY NIGHT 6:00pm
On March 5th, this Tuesday, band students will be performing at the Mariner Theater at 6pm. Band students need to arrive at 5:30 pm. The West Homer, Middle School and High School bands will all be performing. It is a free event, and all are encouraged to attend!
IditaNature
On Monday, your child will come home with a calendar to log the number of minutes they spend outside from March 2-March 17. IditaNature is a fun way to encourage outdoor play while learning about the Iditarod. Kids are challenged to play outside fo 1,150 minutes while the Iditarod is underway. (The Iditard is a 1,150 mile race.)
This activity is not graded or required. It is just a fun way to encourage students to get exercise and fresh air now that the daylight hours are increasing. We will decide on prizes together as a class.
Science Fair
Science Fair projects are due the Monday after Spring Break. If your child's project is complete, and you would like to get it out of the house, bringing a completed projected to school this week is also an option. I am more than willing to store projects over spring break in my classroom. Thank you for supporting your child's science learning at home. As always, please let me know what I can do to make the project an enjoyable and deep learning experience for your child!
March 18--- Completed Project turned-in to Mrs. Putney
March 21 and 22--- Present Projects Orally to Class
March 25 and 26--- Science Fair Projects displayed in gym for public view
Library News
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming soon! Monday March 25th--Friday March 29, the Book Fair will be open all week during the school day.
Tuesday March 26th 4:30-6:30 is Family and Friends Fun Night at the Book Fair during the Science Fair with door prizes and refreshments. Come one and all and help support the library and enjoy your student’s hard work at the Science Fair!
The students go to the Book Fair during their regularly scheduled library classes and during after lunch recess. Teachers will also pick out books that they wish for in their classroom. Parents and students have a chance to buy a book and donate it to the classroom. A personal placard in the book denotes the donation.
There will be books, science kits, notebooks, posters and more—something for everyone! The students help me run the Book Fair. There will be lots of books and we will have lots of fun!!!!!!!
You can go to the following link and look at our Scholastic Book Fair Web Page:
http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/publish/westhomerelementary
See you there,
Lisa Whip
Cheryl Illg
West Homer Library
IXL Math Practice
Spelling and Vocabulary Practice
http://www.spellingcity.com/eputney/
Play games and get extra practice with our weekly spelling and vocabulary words on SpellingCity.com. If you need your child's password please let me know!